Cursed by the Heart
by DarkWarriorMinerva
Summary: In the dark new world of Soriona, 17-year-old Yugi Mutou faces a new destiny with old and new friends, but will face agonizing pain at the hands of the one that he thought he could trust the most... Rated M for violence and language (Contains OCs)
1. Chapter 1

"_Rise, child..." a strange voice spoke to him. He gradually brought himself to consciousness, and quickly noticed a shadowy figure standing above him. He slowly stood up to face the shadowy man, that is, if he could see his face. _

_"__Who are you?" the child asked, "What is your name?" This wasn't his other self that he had come to know and love._

_"__Now is not the time for you to know yet," the man replied. He spoke with a powerful and commanding, yet warm and compassionate voice, "but you'll learn soon enough."_

_"__What's going on?" the boy responded._

_"__You've entered a new world. You're facing a new destiny," the man said, "You will gain several new friendships, and strengthen most of your current ones... but you will be betrayed by the friend that you value the most..."_

"Wake up..." another voice spoke. This one appeared to belong to a young woman. Was that whole event just a dream? Was it trying to tell him something? He slowly but surely awoke to find himself in a hospital – not one that he could recognize, this sure wasn't Domino Hospital. He looked to his left and saw a woman who looked to be about 21 years old_, _hadlong dirty blonde hair, blue eyes, and was wearing blue jeans, a short-sleeved purple t-shirt, and a pair of square-framed, red-rimmed glasses. She had a kind face.

"Hello?" she said, "You awake?"

"Uhhhh..." he groaned, "Who are you? What am I doing here?"

"My name is Minerva Blake," she replied, "I found you at the base of rocky hill all banged up. You looked like you had taken quite a tumble."

He took a closer look at himself. He had so many bandages wrapped around his body that it wasn't even funny.

"Wait a sec! How did I get here?!" he said, obviously confused.

"I brought you here! What did you think?!"

"No, I mean, where am I, other than just the hospital?"

"Oh..." she trailed off, "I've been in this world for so long that I forgot how I got here. You must have been teleported here from your home world."

"Wait, what world is this?"

"Soriona."

_"__How in the hell... What kinda world is 'Soriona'?"_ he wondered to himself.

"So... tell me a little bit about yourself," she said, "Like your name."

"My name's Yugi. Yugi Mutou."

"What kinda name is that?"

"I'm Japanese."

"Oh, cool!" she smiled. "How old are you?"

"Seventeen."

At this point she burst out laughing. "Yeah, right! You look and sound far more like you're eleven!"

"I get that a lot..." Yugi said, trying to hide his embarrassment. "What about you? How old are you?"

"Nineteen"

"Really? You look older than that..."

"Yeah, I get that a lot too."

A thought suddenly jumped into his brain. _"__The Puzzle. Where is it?" _

"Did you see... a pendant near me?" he asked, "It's gold and in the shape of an upside-down pyramid."

"Oh yeah... The healers have it right now," she said smiling, "Don't worry! It's completely safe."

_"__Healers? That must be what they call doctors in this world."_

A healer walked into the room, "Okay, we're going to remove your bandages and then you can leave."

After the healers removed his bandages, gave him back his Puzzle, and Minerva had checked him out of the hospital, she turned to him and said, "If you need a place to stay, I have plenty of room at my house. I have a lot of friends who live with me."

"Okay," he replied. It's not like he had much of a choice.

"By the way," she asked, "Why is that pendant so important to you? Was it a gift from a loved one or something like that?"

"Oh, I forgot to explain it to you," he replied, "It's actually an enchanted puzzle," he didn't know why, but he felt like he could tell her about it, that she would understand, that he could trust her with this information. "I completed it a while ago, and I always have it with me. It protects me."

"Oh, I knew that there was something magical about it!" she said, "I guess that explains it!" But in the back of her mind, she just knew that something wasn't right about that object. She didn't know why, but she just felt a malevolent presence from it, an evil presence even. She tried to push it out of her mind, _"__He's been with that thing for a long time. He says it protects him. I guess that I shouldn't worry about it."_

But her intuition was telling her that she should.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

During the whole drive back to Minerva's house, Yugi couldn't stop thinking about the dream he had back at the hospital, _"Who was that man? And what did he mean about 'being betrayed by the friend that I value the most'? Could he mean... No! He couldn't have! Impossible!"_

"We're here!" Minerva's voice chimed in. Yugi looked out the window at his new home as they pulled into the driveway. It was a nice-looking, white house that appeared to be able to house a lot of people. As he walked through the front door, he heard the familiar laughter of his long time friend.

"Anzu!" he exclaimed as he ran through the door. He saw his friend chatting with a tall, thin guy with dark blue shoulder-length hair and purple eyes, and was wearing a black short-sleeved t-shirt, blue jeans, and blue tennis shoes.

"Hey, Yugi! Long time no see!" Anzu greeted him with, "Didn't think I'd see you here!" She turned towards the dude that she was previously talking to. "Hey, Jake! Come meet a friend of mine!"

The man walked over towards Yugi, "Oh, your name's Yugi? Nice to meet you. Jake T. Madigan's the name!" he turned towards Anzu and said to her, "He's cute, is this a kid you babysit or something?"

"I'm 17 years old, goddamn it!" Yugi shouted, voice searing with anger. _"How rude! Treating me like I'm some sort of retarded child!"_

"Really?" Jake responded, "Because my brother's 10 and you look to be about the same age as him..."

Suddenly, three more familiar voices came into earshot. "Hey, little buddy! Didn't think we'd see you here!" Yugi turned to see his three other closest friends.

"Jonouchi! Honda! Ryou!" he exclaimed, running towards them and greeting Jonouchi with a hug.

Then two more people walked into the room. One was a young boy who stood at about the same four-and-a-half foot height as Yugi, with neck-length lavender hair and orange eyes, and was wearing a long-sleeved dark gray shirt and blue jeans. The other was a short (but not as short as him), thin woman with reddish-brown hair and hazel eyes, wearing a purple top and a denim skirt.

Minerva turned to Yugi and said, "Let me introduce you to my very best friend," gesturing towards the woman, "Yugi, this is Hestia."

The lavender-haired boy turned to Yugi and said, "Hey, Yugi. I'm Cole. I see you've met my older brother Jake." Then he glanced down at Yugi's Puzzle, somehow seeming to know that it was magic. "Can you show me the magic of that pendant? I can sense a strange energy from it."

"Oh, yeah," Minerva brought up, "I've been wondering what was so magical about that thing!"

"Okay, I'll show you." Yugi turned his mind into his Puzzle, _"Let me introduce you to my new friends."_

The Puzzle started glowing. The light continued to grow until it had completely consumed him. As the light faded, it became clear that a new person had appeared in Yugi's place, about a foot taller, very similar, yet different. Almost like it was an adult version of Yugi.

"Hello," said the man. He spoke with a deep, commanding, much more masculine-sounding voice, compared to Yugi's childish, high-pitched, feminine-sounding voice.

"Yugi..." said Minerva nervously. "Is that you?"

The man said in reply, "No, I'm not Yugi. I'm the spirit that lives inside the puzzle that he wears around his neck, I just use his body to function in the physical world."

"Then, who are you? What is your name?" Hestia chimed in.

"I don't have a true name per se," the man replied. "Just call me Yami."

"Okay then..." Minerva responded apprehensively. _"Does this man really protect Yugi? I sense an evil power within him. I shouldn't just trust him just because Yugi does. Something just doesn't seem right..."_

After showing Yugi to his room, Minerva sat in her room, contemplating her situation. She needed to talk to spirit guide Sapphyra about this.

_"__I need to talk to you, Sapphyra..."_ she mentally called out to her guide. The ghost of a woman with long white hair, sapphire-blue eyes, a kind face, and wearing a long, midnight-blue robe appeared before her.

"What do you need to talk about?" said Sapphyra.

"I've got a bad feeling about Yugi..."

"Why? He seems to have a pure heart."

"I mean the other one, the one who lives in the Puzzle. The one who calls himself 'Yami'."

"Oh, I see. Your completely right. He evil. He's got a history of it."

"What do you mean, a 'history'?"

"Let me tell you something that he doesn't want anyone – especially Yugi – to know."

"Okay."

"About 100 years ago, his soul had been sealed inside the Puzzle when his body was killed. He had been accused of the murders of several young boys before his death, but being in the Puzzle didn't put a stop to his murder spree. He uses his hosts' bodies to kill other children, before eventually murdering the hosts themselves." Sapphyra declared.

"That's odd," Minerva replied, "Yugi said that Yami protects him. Why would he protect him if he planned on killing him?"

"That's all part of the manipulation." Sapphyra stated "He pretends to be their friend, gains their trust, before ultimately leading them to their deaths. Gaining power through any means necessary is all a game to him."

"Gaining power? How does he accomplish that?"

"He basically functions like a spiritual vampire towards his victims. He drains them of their spiritual lifeblood – their prana – before killing them violently. He gains magical power from it. His out-of-body victims he drains of prana instantly, but his hosts, he drains gradually, making them physically ill."

"So he's a psychic vampire?"

"Not exactly. A vampire requires blood or prana for sustenance, whereas he consumes it simply to gain power. He is a demon"

A knock at the door.

"I'll be right there," responded Minerva. Perhaps it was Yugi at the door. Maybe she could explain everything to him and possibly convince him to give up the Puzzle.

She opened the door and froze. It was the man he had just discovered the true evil of. It was none other than Yami.

"Whataya want?!" Minerva said sternly.

"Can't I just stop by to say hello?" he snorted, "I get the feeling that you don't trust me."

"Really? Because I don't! Now fuck off!"

As she was closing the door, something suddenly stopped it before she could latch it. She took a closer look. He was holding it open with a knife! She froze in her tracks as he walked into the room holding the knife.

"That's unfortunate. I really wish that you did..."

As he came closer to her, she mustered up some courage and piped up, "I know your history! I know how truly deplorable you really are! And I won't let you get away with it!"

"Let's just see you try!" he retorted, "I've been getting away with my whole life _and_ afterlife! What makes you think that _you_ can stop me?!" He set down the knife on her dresser. "I _dare_ you to try and _fail_ to save little Yugi!" he said as walked out of the room.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

_"__Oh no!"_ Minerva thought to herself as Yami exited her bedroom. _"How do I stop this? I can't just Yugi die like that! I need to put an end to this!"_ Then, she noticed Anzu standing outside the room with a look of horror on her face. It was obvious that she had heard the whole conversation that had taken place between Yami and Minerva.

"Is he really going to kill Yugi? Is he really a monster?"

"Yes, he is. You heard it in his own words."

"What did you mean by his 'history'?"

So Minerva relayed the conversation she had with Sapphyra to her.

Anzu's expression quickly turned to one of anger. "That bastard! He lied to us! He must be punished!"

"We'll think about that later, first thing to concentrate on is saving Yugi."

Yugi was sitting on the sofa in the living room watching TV. They had some pretty interesting fantasy programs in this world. But that didn't matter right now. It seems that Minerva held something against his nearest and dearest friend. Yami had told him that she was rude to him right from the start. Despite this, Yugi really did want to be her friend, but didn't know how to reconcile the two of them.

Just then, Minerva and Anzu walked down the stairs and over to him. Maybe now he could ask her what she had against Yami.

"Hey, Yugi."

"Hey. Can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

He took a deep breath. "I get the feeling that you don't like Yami. He told me that you were awfully rude to him when he went upstairs to talk to you. Why do you treat him this way? He just wanted to be friends."

"Oh yeah?! Then why did he come at me with a knife?!" she exclaimed.

"N-no! He didn't! He wouldn't! He would never do something like that!"

"Oh yes he did! You know what I found out about him?!"

"What... did you... find out?" he said, on the verge of tears.

"He's murdered his previous hosts, all of them, and uses their bodies to kill other little boys... I'm just afraid he'll kill you next..."

"No! He couldn't! He's my friend! He would _never_ do anything to hurt me! Never!" Tears were running down his face at this point.

"I'm just trying to protect you..." Minerva didn't expect to feel this much sorrow from his tears. It's like their souls were connected! She tried to comfort him, but he just continued to sob.

He felt his body become oppressively hot while he continued to cry. When Minerva put her hand on his shoulder, he felt a burning pain. Then he began to feel a sharp, stabbing pain in his heart. His body felt listless and weak, so much that he could barely stand up. His chest pains got worse, so bad that he was clutching his heart and groaning in pain.

"Are you okay, Yugi?"

"I'm fine..." he hoped he sounded convincing. He was breathing heavily. He felt like tight bands were being wrapped around his heart and lungs.

"Really? Because you look like you're about to die..."

"I-I r-really a-am f-fine–" he forced out of his throat before he suddenly collapsed!

"Yugi!" Minerva rushed to Yugi's side, "Anzu! Call an ambulance!" Anzu ran for the phone. Minerva placed her hands on Yugi's body, and began to channel some of her prana into his body, hopefully to keep him alive long enough for the ambulance to arrive and for the healers to take over.

Sirens. _"It's outta my hands now. Take good care of him..."_

Minerva, Anzu, Hestia, Ryou, Jonouchi, Honda, and Jake were sitting in the waiting room of the hospital, waiting for the answer about Yugi's condition. They were all worried sick about him, but this was extremely the case for Minerva.

"You're scared for the little guy, aren't you, Mini-chan?" Ryou said to her in a compassionate voice while simultaneously placing his arm around her shoulders.

"Yeah, I am," she said nervously, her face starting to turn red.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Is it okay if I call you that?"

"Yeah, it's fine," she replied, blushing more.

A healer walked into the room and said, "We've got Yugi in stable condition, it looks like he's going to be fine. If you like, you can visit him."

"He was very lucky that he got here when he did," said the healer, "He came down with a fever of 106 and would've died if you had waited any longer to help him."

The group followed the healer into the infirmary and saw Yugi laying in the hospital bed, looking completely out of it, skin pale, eyes barely open.

"What.. happened... to me?" he said weakly.

"It appeared to be a psychic attack," replied the healer. "Some outside force fed directly off his prana. Whatever or whoever it was, it apparently took a lot."

"Prana?" Jonouchi asked.

"A person's spiritual energy," Minerva answered, "Basically the blood the soul."

Suddenly, Sapphyra's words rang clear in her head, _"His out-of-body victims he drains of prana instantly, but his hosts, he drains gradually, making them physically ill."_

"Hey!" a female voice called out from the hallway. "Heard the new kid got sick!"

A dark-skinned teenage girl with medium-length black hair and dark purple eyes ran into the room. She was wearing a black, long-sleeved shirt with hot pink sleeve and neck hems and a hot pink heart on the front of the shirt, dark wash blue jeans, and black sneakers with hot pink laces.

"Who are you?" asked Yugi.

"Oh, I guess you haven't met me yet! My name's Stardust Shadai!"

"Oh, hi... my name is Yugi Mutou."

"Yeah, I know!" she grinned, "Minerva's told me a lot about you!"

"Okay... nice to meet you..." He took another look at Stardust's grin and froze. _"Were those... fangs?"_ He glanced down at her hands and noticed that she had red-painted, pointed, razor-sharp fingernails. _"Oh crap! Is she a vampire?!"_

"Why yes I am!" she said, just seeming to _know_ what he was thinking.

"You can read minds?!"

"Of course I can! I am a vampire after all!"

Yugi took a look around at his friends. The seemed so _chill_ about the fact that their was fucking _vampire_ in the room! "How are you guys so cool about this?!"

"We've all known this for a while now," stated Anzu, "Remember, we've been here longer than you have."

"Oh, mellow out Yugi!" Honda chimed in, "She's actually pretty awesome!"

"Okay then..." Yugi still felt a bit apprehensive about Stardust, but he decided that he could get used to it.

Jonouchi turned to Anzu and whispered to her, "Do you really think that Yami caused Yugi's illness?"

"Certain. He's done this before to other children."

Jonouchi was conflicted about this new information. _"I mean, he's been our friend for so long, could he really have been deceiving us this whole time? I originally thought that any friend of Yugi was a friend of mine, but now... I'm not so sure..."_


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Yugi woke up in the hospital infirmary, feeling slightly groggy, but much healthier. _"What happened last night? What could've caused that?"_ Minerva was standing over his bed.

"Yugi..." she said to him, "I've been wondering, why didn't you tell me that you have diabetes?"

"Well... it's not that easy to talk about..." he said nervously. Then a thought jumped into his head, "How did you find that out, anyway?"

"The healers told me," she smiled. "You know how to give yourself insulin, right?"

"Of course." he replied, smiling back.

"Well..." said Minerva, "The healers said that you're ready to go home, I can check you out anytime."

"Okay..." Yugi's mind began to wander off. _"Oh, how badly I wish he was here... I bet that he would've loved to meet my friends... Oh, why did he have to leave me..."_ He tried to push it out of his mind. He knew that thinking about it would just make him depressed...

Yugi arrived home and went up to his room to sulk. _"Why... why... why did he have to go?"_ To make things worse, he thought that he saw Anzu _holding hands_ with Jake! _"I liked her first! Then you come along and ruin it!"_ After a while of wallowing in sadness, he felt well enough to socialize with his friends.

"Hey, guys."

"Hi, Yugi," said Minerva, "I have something to ask you."

"What is it?"

"Who's Masami?" she asked.

"H-how d-do y-you kn-know th-that n-name?" Tears began to well up in Yugi's eyes.

"You were muttering that name while you were unconscious."

At this point, Yugi couldn't pretend anymore and began to sob.

"What's wrong?"

"Masami was my brother!" he cried.

A soft gasp escaped from Minerva's mouth. "I didn't know that you had a brother..."

"Neither did I," stated Anzu.

"None of us did," Jonouchi chimed in, "Why didn't tell us about this?"

Yugi continued to sob uncontrollably, "He was my best friend growing up," he told them, "Even though he was nine years older than me, we were still inseparable. I could depend on him for anything, until..."

"Until what?"

"Until I was six years old, when he died after being hit by a car!" he exclaimed, "Nii-chan was my very best friend in the whole world, and now he's dead! And I'll never see him again!"

"That may not be necessarily true..." Minerva said softly.

"What do you mean by that?"

"The body may die, but the soul lives forever. But new bodies can be also created to house a soul..."

"Really? Is it actually possible for someone to come back from the dead?"

She nodded, "It's been done before in this world..."

"I kinda feel like I need some fresh air, is it okay if I walk down to the park?" Yugi asked.

"I guess so," replied Minerva, "Just be careful, and be sure to come home before it gets dark..." She tried not to worry too much, _"He'll be fine! You can trust him!"_ she thought to herself. Despite this, she couldn't help but feel apprehensive...

When he finally arrived at Bluewater Creek Park, Yugi felt completely exhausted. _"It didn't seem like that far of a walk, but that really wore me out!"_ he thought to himself, _"I probably should just lie down for a bit..."_ He layed down underneath a tree and fell asleep almost instantly.

"Where's Yugi?" asked Ryou, "I haven't seen him all evening..."

Minerva slowly rose from her nap on the sofa, "Oh yeah, he went down to the park, he'll be back soon."

"Really?" Ryou responded with a touch of concern in his voice, "Because it's past ten o'clock, it's gotten pretty dark out..."

"Oh crap!" Minerva jumped up off the couch, "I better go get him!"

"Can I come with you?" asked Ryou, "I've got a bad feeling about this..."

They hopped into Minerva's car and drove as fast as legally possible to Bluewater Creek Park, parked it, pulled out their flashlights, and began frantically searching for Yugi.

"Yugi!" Minerva called out, but to no response. As she was running across the creek bridge, out of the corner of her left eye, she noticed something floating in the water. She pointed her flashlight at the object and screamed when she realized that it was the bloody corpse of a young boy! _"Oh god, no! Now I really need to find Yugi fast!"_

Then, she heard some evil chuckling in the dark distance, a voice that she instantly recognized and feared. She knew that she needed to get a closer look. _"Eagle Eye, take my sight into the darkness..."_ she called out in her mind. Her vision became like that of a flying bird that searched through the darkness. She soon saw a little boy kneeling on the ground before a shadowy figure, with a blue light flowing from the child's body into the other person's body. As the blue light faded, a purple light appeared in the shadowy man's hand, which made a swift motion across the boy's body, and the kid fell to the ground.

"Oh fuck!" Minerva ran into the darkness and found the child lying dead in the grass in his own blood, with a deep slash wound across his throat. She heard the evil laughter again, looked up, and realized that the shadowy man was Yami! She got up off her knees and fired a small mass of magic energy at him. Right as it was coming at him, he turned around and blocked the shot with his arm.

"You're a little slow there, Minerva."

"I'll have your head on a stick! I swear to god!"

"Oh really? Well, let's just see you try!"

She fired another shot at him, which he sent flying back at her, that she managed to dodge. She fired two more shots at him, the first one he managed to evade, the second one hit him in the chest and knocked him down.

_"__I've had enough fun for now..."_ he thought to himself, body stricken with pain, _"I'll let my host suffer in my place for a while..."_

_"__Angelia," _Minerva called out in her mind, _"Come to me, and grant me your power"_ A sword with a blade that appeared to be made out of purple crystal appeared in her hand, she was going to slay the demon tonight! She walked over towards him and realized why she couldn't kill him yet.

"Yugi!" she cried, seeing her friend lying on the ground unconscious. She ran over to his side, just as Ryou was running over towards them.

"Oh, thank god you found him!" he exclaimed, "I found a kid dead in the creek! I was afraid that Yugi could've been murdered!"

Yugi slowly rose to consciousness, "Where... am I..." he asked, "How did I... get here..."

"Doesn't matter right now," she replied with a warm smile on her face, "All that matters right now is that you're safe. Now let's get you home..."

Yugi woke up the next day feeling absolutely awful. He felt sick to his stomach, had a horrible headache, felt so weak that he could barely sit up, and felt awfully cold, regardless of how many comforters were piled up on top of him.

Anzu came into his room, walked up to him, and said, "Geez, Yugi! You look horrible!"

"Really? 'Cause I feel horrible," he replied.

"That sucks," she said, "By the way, what's with all the blankets?"

"I need them because I'm absolutely freezing!" he said.

She pressed the back of her hand against his face, "You feel awfully feverish, I think you've come down with the flu."

_"__Well, great! This is just great!"_ he thought.

She walked out of the room, and he closed his eyes tried to sleep. Then, he heard some more footsteps near him

"Have you been drinking plenty of water little bro?" an familiar voice spoke to him.

_"__Can it really be?"_ Yugi thought to himself, _"No, I'm probably just hallucinating..."_

Then he looked up, and saw someone he never thought he'd see again...


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

A teenage boy with a pale complexion, messy black hair, and sapphire-blue eyes that stood at about 5'9" and wearing a gray hoodie, blue jeans, sneakers, and square-framed glasses was standing over the young boy.

"Oh my god... Nii-chan!" Yugi exclaimed in shock. "You're alive... but how?"

"Death isn't always permanent in this world..." Masami replied.

"But... I still don't understand..." said Yugi, "You've been dead for eleven years... but now... you're here, you're alive. How is that possible?"

"There's some pretty powerful magic that can be worked in this world," Masami responded, "But that's not important, all that matters is that we're back into each other's lives..." he said as he embraced Yugi in a hug. Yugi hugged him back as tears of happiness ran down his face.

They talked about everything that had been going on since they last saw each other for several hours. The brothers were both extremely overjoyed to finally be together again.

Then, Minerva came into the room and said, "Hey, Yugi! I got some medicine for ya–" and then noticed Masami in the room. "Oh, I see that you found my surprise..."

"You brought him here... but how?" Yugi asked.

"I have some friends..."

The next day, Yugi was feeling much better, _"Damn! That medicine really worked,"_ he thought to himself, _"Usually when I get the flu, I'm down for at least a week..."_

"Hey, little bro," Masami greet him as he came down the stairs, "Feeling better, I take it?"

"Yes, I am! Strange, right?" Yugi responded.

"Yeah," Masami laughed, "Hey why don't you get dressed and we can go get some lunch! I've really been craving tacos today!"

"Oh crap!" Yugi exclaimed, "How late did I sleep in?!"

"Pretty late. It's almost noon. But just forget about it. Go get dressed so we can go get some grub!"

So they walked down to the restaurant and ordered their food. Yugi's eyebrows shot up as soon as he saw all the food piled on Masami's tray.

"Do you _really_ need all that food?"

"Hey, I haven't eaten this stuff in over eleven years! Besides, I'm starving!"

"You're gonna get sick if you eat all that..."

"If it happens, it happens..."

"Okay... whatever..."

They sat down at a table.

"So bro, who's that girl hanging around the house? The brunette with blue eyes?" Masami asked.

"Anzu?"

"Is she your girlfriend?"

"No," Yugi responded, "But I wish she was..." he muttered under his breath.

"Well, she is _hot_! It'd be cool if she'd go out with me..."

"She's 17, you're 26! Do you realize how screwed-up that is?!"

Masami laughed it off, "Whatever..."

Masami began scarfing down his tacos like there was no tomorrow, while Yugi was barely nibbling on his tacos.

"Are you okay little bro? You've barely touched your food..."

"I'm fine, I'm just not that hungry right now..."

"Okay..." Masami said as he smiled. Despite this, he couldn't help but feel uneasy. _"Something seems really wrong with my baby brother."_ he thought to himself,_ "I heard that two little boys were murdered the other night... What if he's next? And what about that pendant he wears? Minerva said that an evil spirit lives inside it, but he seems to think that the spirit is his friend... As much as I want to believe him... I just know that there's something seriously wrong here... but just what am I supposed to do about it?"_

Later that night, Stardust came up to everyone and asked, "Hey guys, anyone wanna go to a club tonight?"

"Sounds great!" Minerva responded.

"Are you sure it's legal for us to go?" Yugi asked.

"You said you were 17, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, you can drink legally at 16 in this world, so the answer is yes."

"Cool!"

"Yeah, there's a pretty cool nightclub downtown called The Sapphire Serpent. We should go there!"

They piled into two cars and drove down to the club. They parked and walked up to the door and immediately the bouncer scowled at Yugi.

"Is something wrong?" he asked.

"You're obviously too young. You have to be at least 16 to be admitted in," she responded.

"I'm seventeen! I swear to god!"

"Yeah, right!"

He then remembered that he had his ID from back home in his pocket, so he pulled it out and told the bouncer, "I really am! Here's proof!"

"I don't trust this, you still look way too young," she replied.

Minerva then walked up to the bouncer and started talking to her, hopefully to explain to her the fact that he really was old enough to get into the club.

The bouncer turned to him and said "Fine. You can come on in."

They all walked into the club and immediately Yugi felt completely out of his element. The pop music was really loud, the flashing strobe and laser lights were giving him a headache, and it was packed with people who were all talking very loudly, presumably to be heard over the blaring music. _"This is different,"_ he thought, _"But I can make do."_

They walked up to the bar and sat down and the bartender asked for their orders. Jonouchi and Honda ordered themselves beers, Anzu ordered herself a pomegranate martini, Jake and Hestia ordered themselves each a glass of wine, Ryou ordered himself a strawberry daiquiri, Minerva ordered herself a Miami Vice, Stardust ordered some sort of vampire cocktail, and Masami ordered an apple martini. The bartender then came up to Yugi and asked for his order. He took a minute to look over the drink list and made his decision.

"A rum and Coke sounds good."

So they all got their drinks, and almost immediately, Masami began hitting on Anzu, which she did not take kindly to. _"Geez, Nii-chan!"_ Yugi thought to himself, _"Why do you have to embarrass me in front of her?!"_ Even more annoying, Anzu and Jake seemed to be _flirting_ with each other! _"You bastard! You think that you can just come along and steal my woman like it's nobody's business! I hate you!"_

"Hey, Anzu!" Jake said, "There's some room on the dance floor, wanna dance?"

"Sure, Jake!" Anzu replied, much to Yugi's anger, "Sounds cool!"

Yugi downed the rest of his drink, turned to the bartender, and demanded another rum and Coke.

"Are you okay, Yugi?" asked Jonouchi, "You've been acting kinda weird tonight..."

"None of you business," Yugi growled. _"If he finds out that I like her, he'll tell her and I'd be humiliated for the rest of my life!"_

Yugi continued downing drinks, trying not to think about losing his long time crush to another guy. He felt so lonely tonight. He'd had a huge crush on Anzu for a very long time, and yet she didn't seem to feel the same way about him. He wished that one of these days she would come around, but he didn't think that would ever happen...

Ryou walked up to the bar from the dance floor and hollered over to the bartender, "Another shot of Bacardi over here, barkeep!"

The bartender poured him another shot of rum, which he downed pretty quickly. As a love song came on the speakers, he turned to Minerva and asked her, "Hey honey, wanna dance?"

"I don't dance..." she replied, her face flushing a bright red.

"Oh, come on Mini-chan! It'll be fun!" he stated, holding out his hand.

"Uh... okay..." she responded, taking his hand.

This pissed Yugi off even more, _"God! Why me? I feel like the only one who's alone tonight!"_ His thoughts felt muddled together. He just wanted to go home and lay down.

He got off his bar-stool to go ask Minerva if they all could go home, but as soon as his feet hit the floor, he felt wobbly and off-balance. In spite this, he continued to walk towards her, despite feeling like he was about to fall over.

She quickly noticed him, walked over to him and asked, "God, Yugi! How many drinks did you have?! Forget it! It's obviously too many!"

So she told the group that it was time to go and they all piled back into their cars and headed home. Yugi slowly drifted off to sleep on the ride home. Hopefully things would go better tomorrow...


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Yugi awoke feeling incredibly groggy, feeling nauseous and suffering from a pounding headache. He did _not_ want to get out of bed today.

"Good morning!" a cheerful voice spoke to him, "How ya doin'?"

"Hello, Yugi!" another voice chimed in, "You okay? You seem pretty hung over, don't you?"

Yugi opened his eyes, slowly sat up and realized the voices that were talking to him belonged to Hestia and Minerva, respectively.

"Ughhhhhh..." he groaned, "How many drinks did I have last night..."

"Jono said that you had about five or six," Minerva replied, flashing him a warm smile, "That must have been pretty tough on your tiny little body."

"Well..." Yugi responded, "Can I get some more rest? I still feel awful..."

"Okay," Minerva smiled, "But don't sleep for too long. I want you to be able to attend the festival tonight."

"Festival?" Yugi asked.

"This town has a big Halloween festival at Bluewater Creek Park," Hestia chimed in, "There's several food and gift shop booths open in the park, there's a lot of party-type stuff, and everyone has a really good time! It'll be a lot of fun!"

"Sounds cool," Yugi replied, "Now can I go back to sleep?"

"Okay," the women said as they exited the room as Yugi drifted off into dreamland.

Yugi woke up again a few hours later feeling much better, but still a bit nervous. This Halloween festival sounded awesome, but there had been a double homicide at the park where this festival was supposed to take place, and perhaps the killer might strike again. Apparently he was at that very same park when the murders took place, but he didn't know anything about the slayings until he saw it on the news the next day, his memory of that night was rather fuzzy anyways. He tried to put it out of his mind, Yami would protect him, right?

He got out of bed, got dressed, and walked downstairs. Minerva was there to greet him at the bottom of the stairs.

"Ready to go to the festival?" she asked.

Yugi rubbed his eyes, "It's starting already?" he glanced at the clock on the stove. It read about 3:30. He could've sworn that he had woken up earlier than that.

Minerva gave him a kind smile, "It just started just about a half an a hour ago. So, do you wanna go to the festival?"

"Sure!" he exclaimed, "Where's everybody else?" he asked.

"They already headed down there," she replied, "So, come on! Let's go!"

They arrived at Bluewater Creek Park in Minerva's car to meet up with everyone else. Yugi was really excited. Everything looked so cool!

However, Minerva couldn't help but feel apprehensive. The evil energy from the Puzzle seems to have gotten stronger and more active lately. Perhaps Yami had gotten more powerful from draining the life from Yugi. That may explain why Yugi had been so sick on the morning after the first incident. She just _knew_ that Yami was up to something, something dark, but she couldn't tell exactly what. She had to be on her guard, not just for herself, not just for Yugi, not just for her other friends, but for the sake of everyone attending the festival tonight.

"Minerva! Yugi! You made it!" Stardust shouted while running towards them.

"Hey Stardust!" Minerva responded.

"Wait a second," Yugi asked, "How are you able to be out in the sunlight? Aren't you a vampire?"

"Yeah, but you apparently have been misinformed about vampires, we can go out in the sunlight just fine, we just can't use our powers," Stardust replied, grinning at him, "That's why I don't like going out in the sun."

"Oh..." replied Yugi.

"Hey!" another female voice called out. Yugi turned around and noticed Anzu running towards them with their friends following her. She was wearing a lime-green tube top and denim Capri pants. Yugi thought she was really pretty in that outfit. It made him blush a bit.

"Yo!" shouted Honda from behind her, "Did you guys just get here? You were right, Minerva! This place is _awesome_!"

"Hi everybody!" Jonouchi said, approaching the group, holding a couple of pumpkin-flavored doughnuts in his hands, "Hey, Yugi. They're selling a bunch of baked goods back there! You should check 'em out!"

"Ooh!" Yugi exclaimed, jumping up and down in excitement, "Hey, Minerva! Can I have some money? I'm really hungry and wanna buy some treats!"

"Okay," Minerva replied, handing him a twenty-dollar bill, "But be careful," she said as he ran off. She then turned to Honda and said, "Honda, can you keep on him?"

"Why?" he asked, "He seems like he can manage himself."

"I just have a bad feeling about tonight." she responded, "I just know that he's in danger..."

"Okay... if you say so..." he replied, following Yugi into the distance.

As night fell, Minerva's feelings of dread rose. She felt a grim presence creeping around in the night. A presence that was going to strike very soon...

Suddenly, Honda came running frantically towards her and said, "Minerva! I lost Yugi!"

Fear caught her by the throat with its icy grip. "Lost him?! What do you mean?!"

"Well," he responded, "He got real upset about me hanging around him and started yelling at me. I looked away for a second, and then he was gone!"

"Oh my god!" Minerva yelled out, "We gotta find him!" and they ran out to find him.

"Yugi!" Minerva called out, running through the park, desperately searching for her friend.

Suddenly, she heard a high-pitched scream, appearing to belong a young girl. She ran towards the scream – and froze dead in her tracks when she saw the gruesome scene.

She saw a brown-haired, brown-eyed girl with pigtails who appeared to be about six years old with blood stains on her dress, screaming and crying over the blood-soaked, stab-wound riddled body of a similarly-looking boy who appeared to be about eight years old – perhaps the girl's older brother.

_"__Oh god!"_ she screamed in her mind, _"I knew this would happen! I gotta stop this now!"_

She reached her right hand out to the side, _"Angelia. Come to me, and grant me your power,"_ her Spirit Sword materialized in her hand. She knew that she had to fight for the lives of everyone tonight.

Another scream. Minerva immediately ran towards the voice, only to find three more dead bodies. This time it was what appeared to be a whole family, a mother, a father, and a young boy, who was probably about ten years old. The parents had apparently died protecting their son.

"Now I really gotta find him!" she said to herself, and ran out to find Yugi.

It wasn't long until she found him. Well, she found Yami anyways, and froze like ice when she got a good look at him. His face and clothes were splattered with human blood and he was holding a large, blood-soaked knife.

As soon as he saw her, he flashed her an evil grin. Then she noticed the most disturbing part – his normally pristine white teeth were stained a pale red. At that moment, it became apparent that Yami had been drinking human blood!

She charged at Yami with her sword, but as she got closer to him, he just seemed to fade away! She stopped, wondering where he disappeared to, when he suddenly reappeared right behind her and lunged at her with the knife, which she barely managed to evade.

"You were pretty quick there. Impressive."

"I refuse to let live tonight motherfucker!" Minerva swung her sword at him, which clashed with the knife, sending it flying out of his hand. She then held her sword to his throat, but he still kept that sinister smile on his face.

"Go ahead... slit my throat... and kill your friend... I dare you..."

Upon hearing this, she pulled her sword away from him and sent it back to her spirit.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. I knew you couldn't do it." he said before starting to walk away.

Before he could get too far away, she ran up to him, tackled him to the ground, and wrapped her hands tightly around the demon's neck. She figured that if she caused him enough physical pain, he would surrender control to Yugi.

It worked apparently, because soon Yami's evil face turned into his host's innocent, unconscious face. As soon as she saw his face, she released her grip on his neck, and got off from on top of him.

His eyes slowly opened, "Uhhhh... What happened? What's going on? How did I get here?"

"We're going home now!" she told him. Then, she heard a haunting howl in the wind that sent shivers down her spine.

"What was that?!" Yugi exclaimed in a terrified voice, apparently having heard the chilling sound.

"Doesn't matter, we're leaving right now," Minerva responded, helping him up off the ground. But before they could get much further from the spot they were at, she noticed some shadowy, ghostly figure coming up from behind them.

"Yugi! Run!" she yelled out to her friend.

"What?" he responded. But then suddenly, he was grabbed by the spirit! Minerva pulled out her Spirit Sword again, and began slashing at the ghost, but it just seemed to repair itself! She fired several magical blows at it, but the monster continued to gnaw on Yugi as he screamed in fear and agony. She ran towards him to try to pull him away from the shadows, but it just knocked her away.

But then suddenly, from behind a tree, a man who appeared to be in his mid-twenties, with a fair complexion, medium-length chocolate-brown hair, emerald-green eyes, and wearing square-framed glasses – similar to Masami's – and was also wearing a gold-colored robe, bathed in a pure white light. His right hand was closed into a fist, with the back of his palm facing out. A glowing white ring with a glowing white dot in the center – the astrological symbol for the sun – appeared on the back of his hand. He spoke a few words in another language – perhaps Latin or Italian – with a powerful, commanding voice, and the shadowy monster immediately dissipated, and then the man vanished.

Yugi got a quick glimpse of the man before he disappeared, and immediately recognized him as the figure who appeared in silhouette in the dream that he had when he first arrived in this strange world. But still... who was that man?

Then, the rest of their friends ran over to help them. Cole knelt beside Yugi and said, "Are you okay Yugi?! I heard you screaming like hell! I tried looking for you, but I couldn't find you until now!"

"Come on buddy," Jonouchi chimed in, "Let's get you home."


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Yugi slowly awoke to a splitting migraine headache, worsened by the painfully bright sunlight shining through the bedroom window. He felt cold, awfully cold, and he felt so drained that he could barely move. But he felt that he should get out of bed and push through the day.

However, just as he stood up after he lethargically got out of bed, he heard an unusually loud knock at his bedroom door.

"Come in..." he said weakly.

As the doorknob turned he heard Minerva on the other side say to him, "Hey, sleepy-head. Did you just get up?" But after she opened the door, she let out a soft gasp and said, "Oh my god, Yugi! You look horrible! Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little dizzy." he responded

"Really? Because you look awfully pale to me." she replied, the concern in her voice both strong and obvious.

"Of course I am! Don't you believe me?"

"Actually, I don't." she responded, "You strike me as the kind of person who doesn't like having people worry about you. I'm like that too. Besides, I can tell that you're sick just by looking at you."

"I'll be okay, trust me," he replied tiredly as he tried to walk toward her, but as he took a few steps forward, he lost his balance and stumbled head-first into her stomach.

"Yeah, you're sick. You should lie back down." She helped him back to his bed and helped him get settled. She pressed the back of her hand against the child's face, immediately noticed that he had come down with a fever.

"Just relax, little buddy," she said to him, giving him a light kiss on his forehead, "I'll be back soon with some lunch."

About half an hour later, she returned with a plastic tray with a bowl of chicken noodle soup, a grilled-cheese sandwich on a plate, and a glass of apple juice on it.

"I hope you like this," she said while placing the tray on the bed beside him, "It has always been comfort food for me, and I hope that it'll make you feel a bit better."

"Thanks," Yugi replied weakly. He had barely any appetite, but since his friend had gone through the trouble of cooking for him, he should try to eat the food that she had prepared for him.

He picked up the grilled-cheese sandwich and started to nibble on it. It was surprisingly good, so he started to eat more.

"You like it, don't you?" said Minerva, flashing him a warm smile.

"Uh-huh," he replied, nodding, "It's really good."

"I'm glad..." she responded.

He ate the rest of the sandwich and the soup and drank the apple juice. It was really nice to have Minerva taking care of him, which was odd because he normally didn't like being in a situation here he had to depend on help from someone. It felt embarrassing. He hated feeling weak. But this time, it was different. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but it just felt _comforting_ to have her around.

"Be right back," she said, picking up the tray and exiting the room. She came back a few minutes later with some of the same medicine that she had given him last time.

"This worked pretty well for you the last time, so it should work again this time," she told him, taking a seat on the bed next to him.

Then, nausea started to creep up on him, he tried really hard to keep his lunch down, but it became increasingly difficult.

"Are you okay Yugi? You're looking a little green right now..."

He slowly sat up, trying to hold down his food for as long as possible.

"Yugi?"

Without even getting a chance to respond, he darted for the bathroom, spilling the half-digested food in his stomach into the toilet. Minerva had followed him into the bathroom, with a look of sadness on her face.

"Come on, let's get you back to bed."

She flushed the puke-filled toilet, picked Yugi up off the ground, and carried him back to his bed. He felt rather light in her arms, not surprisingly, considering he was only about four-and-a-half feet tall, coupled with being practically skin-and-bone.

This brought her worries up even further, _"Does he get sick like this all the time?"_ she thought, _"His prana seemed really weak from the moment I met him. Is this just because of Yami? Or has this been going on longer?"_

She layed him down on his bed. "I'll be right back with some water."

She came back soon afterwords with two plastic bottles of water, which she set down on his nightstand.

"Do I really need that much water?" Yugi asked.

"When you're sick, yeah." Minerva replied, "It'll cleanse toxins outta your body, keep you hydrated, and is just plain fucking good for you. Drink it until you're pissing clear and then drink some more."

"Do you really have to be so vulgar about it?" he asked.

"That's just who I am, little buddy." she responded with a cheerful smile.

"I guess..." he replied.

A thought suddenly jumped into Minerva's head. "Oh! I almost forgot! Your medicine!" she grabbed the medicine from off the nightstand, "Here, take a swig of this," she said to him, handing him the bottle.

He took a drink of the liquid, which was very thick and syrupy and tasted rather bitter.

"This stuff makes my throat feel icky." Yugi replied while simultaneously letting out a few coughs.

"Yeah, I know" Minerva responded, "But it'll help you in the long run."

The child then felt a wave of fatigue crash over him and let out a soft yawn, "Wow, the drowsiness really hit me hard. I think I should take a nap."

Minerva smiled, "That sounds like a good idea. I'll give you some privacy," she said to him, walking towards the door.

"I'll be downstairs if you need me." she said, closing the door behind her.

Without any other distractions, Yugi layed down, closed his eyes, and relaxed his body before quickly falling

asleep.

Hiroki sat in an armchair in the nursery room of the Mutou family home. His infant son Yuki was sleeping peacefully in his crib. It was nice to finally see him sleeping well, but it also made him worry. Yuki had been extremely frail and sickly since birth and had been constantly in and out of the hospital. The doctors predicted that the child wouldn't to be much older than two years old, causing Hiroki to constantly fear that each sleeping breath his son took would be his last.

Then, a wicked thought jumped into Hiroki's head. Maybe his son shouldn't be alive. If he were to kill him now, his son wouldn't have to suffer any longer. Hiroki grabbed a throw pillow off the armchair he was sitting in, stood up, and slowly approached the baby's crib. He placed the pillow over Yuki's face, but before he could press down on the pillow to suffocate his son, he started to have second thoughts.

_"__Am I really going to murder my own son right now?"_ he asked himself, _"No, this isn't murder. This is a mercy killing,"_ he reassured himself.

But he seriously started to rethink his decision. _"But what if there comes along a way to save him? Then he'll be dead and I would've blown his chance at a happy life..."_

He pulled the pillow away from the infant's face and placed it back on the armchair, _"No,"_ he thought to himself, _"I'm going to find a way for him to live."_

Just then, Hiroki's older son, ten-year-old Masami, walked into the room, clutching his teddy bear.

"Daddy, I can't sleep..."

"Go back to your room, Champ. I'll be right there to help you sleep," Hiroki responded.

"Daddy," Masami said to his father, tears welling up in his eyes, "Is my little brother really gonna die?"

Hiroki sighed, "I don't know, Champ. But we're gonna do all we can for him..." he said before getting up to follow Masami into his room. There was no way in hell that he was gonna let Yuki die. He was going to save him, even if he had to make a deal with the Devil himself.

_**A/N: Yuki and Yugi are the same person. Yuki is Yugi's legal name in my headcanon, for reasons which I'll reveal later. And no, there's nothing romantic between Yugi and Minerva. She's too much of a mother to him to have that kiss be romantic in any way, shape, or form. Besides, Minerva likes Ryou.**_


End file.
